Feb 17, 2013: Indian dishwashing space which has been dominated by Hindustan Unilever’s Vim brand is going to witness some 
intense competition in the coming days with Reckitt Benckiser planning to launch products for cleaning utensils and kitchen surfaces under Dettol brand. Reckitt Benckiser which has been fighting a pitched battle in the hand wash space with HUL’s Lifebuoy with its Dettol brand is surely going to give some stiff competition to the latter in the dishwashing space. Reckitt Benckiser has already launched Dettol Kitchen gel in South Korea and India will be become the second country for the product launch.
Dettol Kitchen gel is termed as a global innovation by the company and is positioned as a multi purpose germ cleaner and germ killer. This product can not only be used for cleaning utensils but also used to disinfect sinks, cooking tops, kitchen slabs etc. With the launch of Dettol Kitchen gel, Reckitt Benckiser will be taking on Vim one of the biggies from HUL stable head on. An 80 year old brand dominating the hand wash space will take on a 100 year old brand dominating the dishwashing space.
It would be very interesting to see in coming days how this battle between the two iconic brands is going to shape up. It needs to be seen if Dettol which is a very powerful antiseptic brand will be able to repeat the magic of what did in the hand wash space in the dish wash and kitchen space as well. The other brands in the dishwashing space which would be giving a competition to Dettol brand are Pril and Exo who also have a good market presence.
